Awesome! This is Brad, with a tattoo of my cubic zirconia with antlers drawing. I asked him why he had it tattooed, and here's what he said:

Two of my favorite things you draw are cubic zirconias and antlers. So this image made perfect sense to get inked. I just couldn't live another day without your art on me. I wish there was a deeper reason as to why I got it, but it's pretty much just the fact that it's the coolest thing ever. Everyone I've shown it to loves it!

An honest man. I'm truly honoured, sir. And I sure do love drawing antlers and cubic zirconias (but not diamonds). Thanks so much for sharing this, Brad!

May 20, 2011

For the second Friday in a row I am ending the week with an old drawing. This one is from over three years ago, and judging from the number of notes it has received on Tumblr (over 2800), I'd say it seems to resonate with lots of folks.

Everything wants to be a unicorn. And who can blame them? I like the idea of reducing the essence of the unicorn down to its horn. And besides, I'm no good at drawing horses.

All drawings are ink and watercolour on paper, 5x7 inches each. I haven't done a decent size series like this in a while.

A note to bloggers and tumblrs: If you plan on posting these, please don't put up the whole series on your site. 3 or 4 or 5 is good, then put a link to this post (http://j.mp/be-a-unicorn) so your friends and fans can see the rest. Thanks so much for spreading the word!

So why are most of them already sold? If you subscribe to my shop newsletter, you already know that they became available late last night. And by early this morning they were (holy crap!) mostly gone.

May 18, 2011

A while ago I did a series of illustrations about fuel efficient airplanes that appeared in the July 2010 international edition of Newsweek. You can read the article on their site.

The immense weight of an airplane is pretty much the main hurdle when trying to improve its fuel efficiency. I was fortunate to have the freedom to inject some humour into the project, and give the airplanes the same anxieties humans have about weight. Thanks for giving me fun commissions, Newsweek!

May 17, 2011

Wow. This is Elizabeth from Russia, with a tattoo on her back based one of my drawings called compromise. The additional text on her tattoo changes the original meaning somewhat. But as far as I'm concerned, if you get one of my drawings tattooed, it's not really about me or my ideas anymore anyway. It (literally) becomes a part of you. Thanks for sharing this, Elizabeth!

And here's the original drawing:

See more tattoos. If you've got a tattoo of one of my drawings, I'd really love to see it. Email me at marcjohns [at] gmail [dot] com.

May 11, 2011

Ink and watercolour on paper, 5x7 inches. The original is SOLD available in the shop. Check for other available drawings and prints.

Thoughts about caption writing:

I considered putting "log, ready for a workout" on this one, but it seemed a bit too jokey for me. You're too smart for that.

I prefer to attempt to be more subtle (although I know I don't always succeed). I like labeling things as they are, with a dry description, which I realize is even more obvious, but offers no direct conclusion. You look at the drawing and ask "did he just draw a log with a head band and wrist bands?" and then you read the caption, which answers your question: yes he did.

That being said, when I tweet about a drawing, I like to use a different description or caption, so that the experience does not repeat the caption. Ack! Creating titles for your art online is so complicated. Don't even talk to me about viral-friendly/search engine friendly nonsense. I'm an artist, dammit.

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About

Marc Johns makes drawings and puts them on this blog, and sometimes he makes them for people like National Geographic, Google, Wired, Newsweek, Tommy Hilfiger, and Harper Collins. He has a book called I MADE THESE DRAWINGS FOR YOU. Many of his fans have tattoos of his drawings.

He lives with his wife Kristen, two sons, and his drawer full of pens in Victoria, BC, Canada. Marc also finds it strange to talk about himself in the third person.Read more

You may blog my work, but always link back to this site (www.marcjohns.com). Please DO NOT remove my signature from them. And please don't put more than 5 images in one blog post without permission. Send your readers here to see more. Thanks!